It is one thing to be sure you are eating enough fiber, fruits & veggies each day but how do you get children, and especially toddlers to do it? It IS possible to make things fun enough that your kids will eat them. Remember, it’s ok to play with your food now that you’re in charge of the kitchen.
Your child needs good nutrition to fuel his growing body and developing mind but there is a limited number of calories your child will consume in one day. Make the calories he consumes count! Remember, you are giving your child the gift of health and a functional, attentive brain to absorb the world around him.
Here are some easy ways to develop healthy eating habits in young children:
Involve your kids in the planning process. If they are old enough, hand them a cookbook and let them pick a recipe from a certain section of it, such as chicken entrees. By getting them emotionally invested in the meal they are much more likely to eat it.
Involve them in any appropriate food preparation tasks. Even toddlers can help wash vegetables or cut soft foods with a plastic butter knife. Even if you chop the bulk of what you need as long as you end up using some of their handiwork they will feel a sense of pride and accomplishment. Older kids can measure ingredients or pour pre-measured ingredients into a mixing bowl, stir, turn on the oven or help you watch the clock. That involvement will make them much more likely to eat the finished meal.
Create a special area of the refrigerator that your child can see and access with your help. Have healthy snacks already prepared so that he can see them and easily decide for himself what he wants to snack on.
Set up garnishments for the meal: sauces, chopped parsley, lemon slices, pine nuts, paprika. Any chance your child has to “personalize” his plate increases your odds he’ll eat what’s on it.
Stop buying overly processed foods, sweets, and products containing artificial flavors, colors, preservatives, additives, hydrogenated oils and high fructose corn syrup - if it’s not in the house they can’t eat it. Snacks like these lead to crankiness, hyperactivity, shorter attention spans and developmental problems. They’ll get plenty of that kind of food at school, parties and friend’s houses. By removing these types of foods from your children’s daily diet they are more likely to have room left for more nutritious foods. In addition, if they don’t develop a daily taste for sweet and salty foods they will be more likely to develop a taste for healthy foods. Do be careful not to become a food nazi, however, or they will rebel and gobble up all the junk food they can when they are not under your watch.
Instead of fruit juices try making smoothies. It’s very easy to use water, rice, soy or cow’s milk, add some yogurt or kefir (probiotics) and fresh fruit of your choice. By using bananas you will not need to use sweetened yogurt or add any sweetener. Strawberries, raspberries, peaches, mango, pineapple, and kiwi all taste great and puree very easily. By using the whole fruit in your smoothie rather than drinking fruit juice you retain the fiber which will help regulate your child’s glycemic index.
Some other smoothies to try:
orange juice/banana/milk for a 50/50 bar flavor,
1/2 carrot juice, 1/2 milk with banana and a pinch of cinnamon - try this before you knock it, it’s really good!
pumpkin puree with pie spices
cocoa powder with banana and a pinch of cinnamon or nutmeg
cocoa powder with banana and peanut butter or almond butter
peanut butter & jelly in a smoothie (light on the jelly)
cocoa powder with marshmallow fluff and bananas (light on the fluff)
Instead of ice cream or popsicles try freezing fruit smoothies in popsicle forms or make frozen fruit cups by cutting up fresh fruit and stirring in yogurt, then freezing in single serve containers. You can also freeze bananas for a creamy healthy frozen easy snack.
Cut up banana sections and roll them in wheat germ, coconut and chopped nuts. Have your child add raisin eyes to complete a porcupine. Mix some cocoa powder with the wheat germ to make a hedgehog.
Serve yogurt fruit and granola parfaits for dessert instead of cake and candy.
Small pumpkins or apples can be hollowed out and filled with a mixture of chopped apple, raisins, dried apricots, walnuts, a small amount of cinnamon, brown sugar, honey or molasses and apple cider then baked until done. This same filling can be cooked in a pan on the stovetop and then served in baked sweet potato “boats” as well.
Teach your child to drink water rather than soda, juice, or “fruit beverages”.
With a little creativity you can instill good eating habits and a love of cooking in your children while having a great time together.